That's part of the fun playing through... trying different things out. But I can relate my own experience for what it's worth.
As a male, I like to use Aribeth for the potential romantic aspects. Is she my own True Love? Who can tell, eh?
As far as effectiveness, I think it's a toss-up between Valen and Aribeth. One thing to keep in mind, especially if you are getting pinched by the expensive items and upgrades... you can't move Valen's heavy flail into your own inventory for upgrade purposes so would need to buy/find a new one in order to take advantage of his weapon focus, if you have the appropriate weapon proficiency, that is. Aribeth's longsword CAN be moved, if you like to upgrade it.
Deekin is the main support NPC, IMO. His buffs and songs are awesome and can really add an advantage. And he can ID just about every item without any Lore boost.
Honestly, though... I would recommend trying each combination. Except for the limited funds issue, there are interesting and funny interactions between Deekin and with which ever additional companion is in tow and you don't want to miss that! And you can switch back and forth until entering the Mimic's Nest.
Enjoy the ride!
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P.S. Incidentally, I had Deekin go hostile on me one time so that whenever I asked him to wait and then picked him up again he would attack. It was a pain so I killed him and then resurrected him which seemed to fix the faction bug and he became his normal kissy self. I wasn't able to fix it with either the settodefenderfaction command or the suicide/respawn method.
Modifié par HipMaestro, 25 juillet 2010 - 03:56 .